The "Good" Pharisees Have Names

2 Lent A March 5, 2023
Gen 12:1-8 Ps.121
Rom. 4:1-5, (6-12)13-17 Jn.3:1-17

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From reading some of the critical words of Jesus about Scribes and Pharisees in the Gospel the Pharisees have fallen prey to the endless stereotype of being phony religious people, hypocrites, who act religious but really have gutter motives.

It is not flattering to be called a Pharisee today; much more flattering to be called a Democrat or a Republican.

The words of Jesus in the Gospels are being written 3-6 decades after Jesus and they represent in part, the conflicts between the various parties within Judaism.  The Pharisees, the Scribes, the followers of John the Baptist, the Sadducees, the desert Essenes, the Zealots, and the followers of Jesus, were parties within Judaism.  They interacted with each other because they share common Scripture heritage and the Holy Site of the Temple.  

The Pharisees actually shared much with the followers of Jesus.  They accepted more than just the Torah as authoritative writings, just like Jesus did.  They believed in a resurrection afterlife,  a general resurrection for the purposes of judgment.  You come back to life to get judged for your deeds.  They also believed in a messiah.  Like many religions, Judaism in the first century consisted of people of faith who were divided even while having common Scriptures and beliefs.  In modern parlance one might say that there were different paradigms of Judaism which co-existed in the first century, one of which centered upon Rabbi Jesus and the belief in his Messiahship.

In spite of the bad rap that Pharisees get in the Gospels and in the rest of history, there are actually three "good" Pharisees in the New Testament.  The Pharisees as a negative stereotypes do not have individual names but the good Pharisees have names.  Nicodemus, Gamaliel, and St. Paul.

Each of these Pharisees represent the dynamics of what was happening in Jesus Movement in its various settings represented by the New Testament writings.

Nicodemus represents a crassly literal Pharisee, but he is one who is interested in all the buzz surrounding Jesus.  He is presented as a Pharisee who was curious about Jesus.  He came to Jesus at night, perhaps in secret so as not to draw the criticism of his own party.  He signifies the truth that one's own party peer pressure does not support us easily leaving their influence for even a new insight.

The dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus provide the insights on how a paradigm shift takes place.  The writer of John presented Jesus as a teacher who had informed himself about his tradition, he had surveyed the current situation of his people in Roman controlled Palestine and he inspired a new paradigm of divine accessibility.  This paradigm was a "love paradigm."  God loves the world, and not just the inheritors of the Hebrew Scriptures.   The Jesus Movement was what one might say, evangelical Judaism.  The Jews practiced proselyte baptism for those who were willing and able to conform to all the ritual purity laws.  Such ritual purity was not easily accessible to all, and especially the Gentiles.

How could one enter the new paradigm of Christ?  It required a renewal, a new birth, a birth which comes from receiving new insights.  The expositors of the Jesus Movement wove the symbolic presentations of events in Hebrew lore with a presentation of Jesus of Nazareth.  The death of Jesus on the cross was presented as his being lifted up for people to get a spiritual glance of faith and in accepting God's provision of  spiritual health for their lives.  The love of God for the world gave the life of Jesus as the valid work for our health and salvation.  

Nicodemus is an example of a Pharisee who was won and converted to the teachings of Rabbi Jesus.  Later in the Gospel of John, Nicodemus is shown to be an advocate for Jesus before the religious authorities.

St. Paul was also a Pharisee, one who had violently opposed the followers of Jesus.  But he came to have a conversion experience and he became the chief architect for this new paradigm of God loving the world.  With St. Paul, Christ-centered Judaism became an innovating evangelism.  The Gentiles were written into salvation history by being presented as people of faith who were like the figure Abraham, who lived before the laws were revealed on Sinai.  Abraham had saving faith without the benefit of the commandments with all of the ritual requirements.  St. Paul saw the saving faith response of the Gentiles who had mystical experiences of the Risen Christ.  Their changed life was proof of their being included in God's salvation plan for everyone.

Gamaliel was a chief Pharisee rabbi.  The Acts of the Apostles present him as one who issued an opinion about the Jesus Movement.  He told the Pharisees to be lenient on the followers of Jesus because if the movement proved to be of God, it could not be opposed.  Gamaliel was saying, "Wait and see; don't rush to a harsh opinion or reaction."

Today we live in a Christian world with many more Christian parties than the parties of Judaism during the first century.  People today may "convert" from one Christian party to another.  In earlier centuries people in different parties persecuted and mistreated each other.  While modern laws in many places prevent open harm among Christian parties, many people calling themselves Christian despise others who call themselves Christian.  Persecution still exists today among people who call themselves Christian, and even outright war such as is now known in the Russian-Ukraine division between their Orthodox communities.

The same task remains for all people today, especially Christians; believing that God loves the world and to receive that love to love each other with the care that goes with that love.  God's Son was made manifest to us to lead us to the life of God loving the world.  When we fight and divide about who is loving God the best, we actually act counter to the love of God.

Let us as our Gospel task today recommit ourselves to these words: God so loved the world.  And let our Gospel task be for the care of our world and the people of the world.  Amen.